New lift available for pool access

The Houston Leisure Facility recently acquired a lift that will allow people who have a hard time getting in and out of pools to go swimming again once it goes into operation.

“Part of our mandate is we will provide leisure access for all persons so regardless of mobility or other challenges and so we already have our leisure pools accessible. It’s got a ramp that gets used,” director of leisure services Ryan Coltura said. “But our hot tub and main pool didn’t have that feature so in order to accommodate people with mobility challenges, we had to find an access lift.”

The access lift has a seat and a leg rest where the person sits on and an arm will lower them into the pool.

“It’s designed primarily to transfer somebody who more likely than not will be in a wheelchair and transfer them from that wheelchair onto the lift which would then raise and lower them whichever pool they were going to use.

Coltura said they will try to accommodate everyone who needs to use it, whether in a wheelchair or not.

The lift is currently not in operation because it came with a broken part and needs a replacement. Coltura says the lift will go into operation once the part arrives, but couldn’t point to a specific time.

The access lift was funded mostly by the New Horizons for Seniors Program, a federal grant which has various aims including providing funding for new community projects for seniors and to support their participation in the community.

“The remaining balance was covered by the Houston volunteer firefighters’ society. They raised money at the fireman’s ball, and decided to donate the remaining money towards this project,” Coltura said.

Coltura estimates that the approximate cost of the lift stands at $10,000.